Dancing Through Life
by Hiei-Touya-icedemon
Summary: A story about family, love, youth, and the future of the Harry Potter genre. People get married and have children, and even grow up a little. But this story happens after all of that. This story answers the age old question: What next?


5:31 AM.

Thus read the clock on the bedside table as Harry Potter turned over in bed, finally giving up in his futile attempts to go back to sleep. As an auror, he supposed he was used to getting up early, but he was supposed to be on _break_. A break he was supposed to _enjoy_. And Harry didn't particularly enjoy getting up at 5:31 AM.

But, knowing that his three-year-old would be up soon enough, anyway, Harry rose from his bed and opened the door to his wardrobe. Grabbing his usual shirt-and-jeans (it was always best to look like a muggle when not at work), Harry made his way downstairs, leaving his wife sleeping in bed.

Sure enough, thirty-eight minutes after he got downstairs, Harry heard footsteps coming down the steps. He looked up with a smile to see his youngest child –and only daughter-, Lily, approaching him with sleepy eyes.

"Daddy?" she asked, blinking. Harry rose to his feet to pick the young girl up once she reached the bottom step, Lily's yellow dressing gown ruffling under him. "Why are you awake? I us'ly has to wake you up"

"I was just about to make breakfast" Harry said, coming up with an answer that would please his three-year-old. "Do you want to help me?" Lily's smile grew wider.

"Yes!" she said happily, and her father put her down. Brushing her long red hair out of her eyes, Lily ran over to the drawer under the stove and pulled out her mother's apron. Harry, shaking his head, had to tie the strings around her four times and fold the apron in thirds to make it fit.

Conjuring up a few pots and pans with his wand, Harry set them out on the stove. Lily smiled and held her arms out for Harry to pick her up. After turning the stove on to boil the water he'd put in a pot with a flick of his wand, Harry settled his three-year-old down on the counter to watch him cook.

This was Lily's idea of "helping"; sitting on the countertop and talking away while her parents did all the work. This time, she chose to talk about how one of her brothers had played a "mean trick" on her the previous day- something having to do with a banana and her new tennis shoes. She was just getting to the end when Harry heard more footsteps, and that very prankster made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Dad?" the boy asked, looking at his father while rubbing his eyes. "Why're you home?"

"I'm on a break, remember James?"

James seemed to think about this for a moment, as if trying to remember. Finally, he shrugged.

"Okay" he said. The eleven-year-old gave a yawn and sat down at the table. "What're you making?"

"Birds nest. Want to help?"

James shook his head. "No thanks" Harry shrugged, showing Lily how to use the circle cookie-cutter to make holes in the middle of the toast he'd made, and watching her face grow wide as he put them on a pan and cracked an egg into the hole, the egg simmering and cooking quickly.

"Where's your brother?" Harry asked his son, keeping his eyes on the bird's nests. He heard James yawn and lay his head down on the table.

"Still sleeping. I smelled the food and came down"

"A wise decision"

"He'll be down soon enough"

Just then, more footsteps, these quieter than James's, could be heard coming down the stairs. It was a boy, but it wasn't the brother James had been talking about. Instead, big blue eyes and short black hair came into view, both traits of the middle child of the Potters, Daniel.

Daniel was seven years old and still very wide-eyed about the world. He didn't exactly fit in with his two brothers, as he was the little bookworm of the family. He was fascinated by his brothers' textbooks, and was constantly swiping James's for extra reading.

"Hi daddy!" he said, looking at the stove and seeing what his father was making. "Can I help?"

"Nuh-uh!" Lily said, crossing her arms. "_I'm_ helping!"

"Lily, share" Harry ordered, flicking his wand at a drawer and whisking out another apron. Daniel took it gleefully and tied it around himself, dragging a chair over to help his father cut out holes in the toast. Lily pouted but gave in, getting back to her story about the prank James had played on her the previous day.

Lily and James had just gotten into a heated argument concerning whether or not James had ruined Lily's sneakers when Ginny Potter came down. She took a look around her- at Harry, trying to separate James and Lily, to Daniel reading his brother's copy of A History of Magic calmly, as though this was completely normal, to the clock above the stove that read 7:42 AM.

With a flick of her wand, Ginny had taken the empty tablecloth and draped it calmly over James. There was a pause for a moment as everyone took this in, and then turned to their mother/wife. Ginny gave a smile and walked over to the abandoned birds nests, lifting them up with her wand and setting them down on the serving plate that Harry had brought out earlier.

James, meanwhile, was struggling with the tablecloth. When he finally got it off of his head, throwing it to the ground, he was red-faced and sputtering. His anger at his sister, however, had ceased.

"Good morning, mommy!" Lily cried, jumping into her mother's arms. Daniel gave his own bright-eyed welcoming into the world of the awakened, and James gave a mumbled "morning" that Ginny accepted as a greeting.

"I take it Sirius isn't awake yet?" she asked, turning to her husband. Harry shook his head, sitting down in a chair at the table while looking up at the steps.

"The only sane one of the family" he muttered. Daniel gave him a frown from behind his book, and James laughed when he sat down.

"We _are_ talking about the same Sirius, right?" he asked. Harry sighed.

"Very good point" he said. "But at least he isn't up at all hours"

"But you was up 'fore I was, daddy!" Lily said from her mother's arms. Harry shook his head.

Just when the bird's nests were being served, the final member of the Potter family came rushing down the stairs.

"Did I miss breakfast?" he asked, panting, his black hair strewn across his face.

"Just on time, Sirius!" James called from the table. Sirius sighed with relief.

"Thank Merlin" he said, taking a seat at the table. "I've done it twice this week already"

Sirius Potter, the eleven-year-old twin of James, was almost a living replica of his namesake. He had the same long black hair, same pale eyes (though thankfully without the dull haze of Azkaban in them), and same rather good looks as Harry's godfather. While his brother had the same face, and ordinarily the two would look a lot alike, James had his hair cut short, hating the way his bangs would fall into eyes if he let it grow out too much.

"Dad?" Sirius asked. Harry looked up from cutting Lily's bird's nest into smaller pieces for her. "When are we going to Grandma and Grandpa's house?"

"We're flooing there at ten" Harry said. Sirius shrugged and got back to his eggs. Lily's face seemed to brighten considerably at the thought of seeing her grandmother.

"Is Christopher going to be there?" Lily chirped, referring to her favorite of her cousins.

"He'd better be" Harry said. "Because if Ron isn't then I'm going to have to-" He was cut off with a silencing charm by Ginny.

"That's quite enough of that" she said. "And if you're going to eat that way then you're going to lose your plates" James and Sirius scowled as they dropped their forks to their plates, caught in the middle of their eating race. "And no books at the table, young man"

Ginny reached out to take Daniel's book away from him, and he stood up to pursue it. "But mom, I was just to the part about the giant wars!"

"They happened four hundred years ago, Daniel, they can wait a few more minutes" Daniel sighed and sat down.

There was quiet for a few minutes as the Potters ate, mostly due to the fact that Harry hadn't reversed the silencing charm from Ginny yet, but the usual chaos resumed when James and Sirius finished their breakfast and took off up the stairs, apparently having a race of some sort. Lily was the next to finish and took off upstairs to her own room to get changed, while Daniel headed to the living room to continue his reading.

At nine-thirty-one, there was a yell from upstairs and Sirius came bolting through the kitchen and into the living room.

"You little squirt!" he yelled. "You stole my book again, didn't you?"

"Duh" Daniel said from behind his book.

"Give it back!" Sirius shouted, reaching for the book. Daniel jumped off the couch and ran off.

"You're not even _using_ it!" he shouted.

"It's _mine!_" Sirius shouted, grabbing the book from his younger brother. Daniel pulled back.

"I'm _reading_ it!"

"Well now you're not!" Sirius shouted back, giving a hard tug on the book.

"Yes I _am!_" Daniel yelled, pulling it back toward him.

"Give it!" Tug.

"No!" Pull.

"_I said give it!_" Yank.

"_I said_ _no!_" Pull.

"Give it to-" But Sirius was cut off by a large ripping sound. Both boys looked down to see several pages of the book torn out and in Sirius's hands, the rest of the book in Daniel's.

"You _ripped_ it!" Daniel cried. "You _ripped_ it!"

"It was your fault!" Sirius shouted. "If you'd just given it to me when I told you to-"

"You _ripped_ it!" Daniel cried, hot tears welling up in his eyes. "Now I'll _never_ be able to read it!"

"_It wasn't my fault!_" Sirius shouted. They were interrupted by a tumble of footsteps coming in, and the two looked up to see their father, James and Lily in tow.

"What happened now?" Harry asked. Daniel burst into tears.

"Sirius ripped my book!" he cried.

"_My_ book!" Sirius corrected loudly. Daniel turned on him.

"You weren't even using it!"

"Well you should have asked permission!"

"That's not-"

"Daniel Remus Potter, do not say another word!" Harry shouted. Sirius smirked, but it faded when Harry rounded on him. "Sirius, sit down!"

Sirius scowled but took a seat, throwing the ripped pages to the ground. Daniel gave a whimper and bent down to pick them up, his tears flowing freely now.

"Let me see that" Harry said. Daniel brought the book to him tearfully. Tapping each of the pages with his wand, Harry bound them back together.

"Daniel," he said, "I want you to go put this in Sirius's room and get dressed. We'll be leaving soon"

"Okay" Daniel sniffled. Harry ran a hand through his hair and let him go. Once he was gone, Harry turned to Sirius.

"Sirius," he said, shaking his head. The eleven-year-old looked down at the ground. Deciding this was boring, Lily turned and ran out to find her mother. James left as well- he'd been in enough trouble with Sirius to appreciate it when he wasn't involved.

-xxxxxxxxxx-

"Are Daddy and Sirius done yet?"

James looked up from the kitchen table to see Lily poking her head out from the stairs.

"Almost, Lils"

"'Cause Mommy said we all got done early and we can go as soon as they're done"

"Well, wait a couple more minutes, Lily"

Lily frowned but accepted this, and sat down on the steps to wait for her father and brother. James put his head down on the table, remembering the last time he and Lily had been alone in the kitchen together. It had been a couple months ago, and a rather interesting discussion had surfaced…

"_James, how come we only got one grandma?"_

"_What?" James asked, turning around. He was drying the rest of the dishes, and Sirius, who'd finished washing them, had run off to grab their brooms. Lily was standing in the entryway of the living room, looking at him quizzically._

"_We only got one grandma. And one grandpa, too. Doesn't Daddy have a mommy and daddy?" James felt his shoulders tighten._

"_Don't you _ever_ say that to Dad" he snapped._

"_Well, how come we don't?" Lily persisted, unperturbed by James's snappiness._

"'_Cause they're dead, Lils"_

"_Oh" Lily paused. "What were their names?"_

"_Didn't Dad tell you?" Lily shook her head. "Their names were James and Lily"_

"_But that's _our _names!"_

"_We're named after them, Lils. Just like Sirius is named after Dad's godfather"_

"_Does Daddy only have one godfather, too?"_

"_Lily, only you have two godfathers"_

"_Mommy said that's 'cause I'm special"_

"_Whatever" James said, turning his back to his sister._

"James?"

"What?" James snapped, his head shooting up as he was snapped out of his thoughts.

"Do you think Daddy has any pictures of his mommy and daddy?"

"How should I know?" James asked, turning as his father and Sirius finally made their way out of the living room.

"Daddy?" Lily said, looking up. Her face brightened and she scampered over to him. "Do you have any pictures of Grandma and Grandpa?"

James sighed and Sirius, in a bad mood after his scolding, scowled and made his way over to his brother, and the two went upstairs.

"Of course I do, Lily" Harry said, puzzled. "I've shown you pictures of us at the Burrow…"

"Not_ that_ Grandma and Grandpa" Lily said impatiently. "_Your_ Mommy and Daddy"

"…Oh" Harry said, a look of realization dawning upon his face. He distractedly ran a hand through his hair, as if contemplating this. "Why?"

"'Cause I wanna see them!"

"Well, Lily… actually, I do"

"Cool!"

"Can I show them to you after we go to the Burrow, though? The pictures are kind of buried and it'll take a while to get them…"

"Okay!" Lily said. She took this as a fair enough deal, mostly due to the fact that it involved the Burrow. She skipped off to find her mother to see if they could leave.

The truth was, Harry's pictures of his parents were _not_ buried. In fact, they were just under his bed, ready in case Harry ever got sentimental. Several pictures of Sirius were in the photo album as well. But Harry couldn't deal with it now, he'd have to use the time at the Burrow to get himself ready. He knew that the boys would want to see the album, as well, so that was plenty of talking about them he had to prepare for.

But those thoughts were buried as Lily came racing down the stairs, holding her mother's hand, dragging her and Daniel to the living room. James and Sirius weren't far behind, though Sirius appeared to be dragging along a broomstick.

"Come on, dad!" James and Sirius called at the same time, motioning for him to follow.

Once in the living room, Ginny took out a bowl of floo powder and took a pinch herself.

"I'll go first" she said. "Lily, you're right after me. Then Daniel, and James, and then Sirius. Harry, you bring up the rear"

Harry nodded and watched as his wife threw the powder into the flames and disappeared. Lily followed her, and Daniel vanished as well. James came after, and even Sirius poofed away with his own shout of "the Burrow!"

Harry tossed his floo into the flames and, smiling, felt that same familiar sensation coming upon him as he headed for the Weasley household.

**So, how'd you guys like it? I really wanted to stick with the books for this, and wanted it to be as realistic as possible. And don't worry, YES, you will get to see Ron and Christopher and the entire Weasley gang next chapter! I'm not POSITIVE where I'm going with this- I'd rather it just be life after HP. And if that means dealing with Sirius (the original) being dead, then –shiver- I will. (Cringes and breaks into hysterical tears)**

**So, please, drop a review by and tell me how you liked it! I tried not to make the children TOO Mary-Sue-ish… what do you think?**


End file.
